


The One Where Poe x Chips Becomes Canon

by orphan_account



Series: The Cosmic Finn and Poe Show [2]
Category: Star Wars
Genre: Except Poe, M/M, Mostly Fluff, about everything, and also finn and poe do some cute stuff, but its mostly about poe and the chips ok, finn feels things, finn is also salty, jk jk poe would sooner die than choose chips over finn, lil bit of angst, poe dameron and fast food my otp, poe dameron is an actual mess but finn thinks hes cute anyway, poe has an eternal love affair with potato chips just saying, the love story we REALLY need
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 12:22:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13411173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Finn has the worst day at work.Poe takes it upon himself to make him feel better.





	The One Where Poe x Chips Becomes Canon

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for posting this so late, but here it is!! I'm hoping to be more regular from now on, since I'm full of inspiration after TLJ, so expect some canon fics too!!
> 
> I'm jumping back and forth on the timeline here, so this is not actually a part two of my first fic (which is why I've employed the titling system used by F.R.I.E.N.D.S.), this also means that there's no chronological order to anything so I'm sorry
> 
> Enjoy!!!

Finn grips the doorknob of their studio apartment, thunder building in his chest. He unlocks the door and bursts in, startling Poe, whose expression relaxes once he realizes who it is.

“Hiya, sunshine!”

“Don’t talk to me,” growls Finn, slamming the door shut behind him and yanking off his coat to hang it on a peg, beside Poe’s leather jacket. He makes a beeline for the kitchen.

Poe is taken aback. “That hurt my heart a little, but okay.”

Finn blinks in confusion for a second, dropping his keys into a ceramic bowl on the kitchen table. They make a collective clink as they settle into the Official Keys Bowl. He was so pissed that he’d brought his work brain home, and that was a pretty big no-go.

He backtracks, forcing himself to calm down. Poe didn’t do anything to you. Don’t be mad at him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--”

“Oh, no. That’s okay. Lousy day at work?” Poe gives him that lopsided smile that always wears Finn down.

Finn sighs, loosening his tie and pouring himself a glass of water from the sink. “They’re going to have to come up with another word for what I went through today,” he grumbles, downing the glass in one go.

Poe makes room for Finn on the couch, patting the empty space beside him. An Indiana Jones marathon is going on, and Poe has a bowl of chips in his lap.

“I have an idea. Put on some sweats, grab a coupla beers, and you can unload on me,” Poe suggests; hitting mute on the remote so Harrison Ford yells, but they can’t hear him.  
Finn dismisses the idea with an absent-minded flick of his wrist, settling into the couch till he’s lined up against Poe, thigh-to-hip-to-shoulder.

“Nah. No work stuff at home, remember? That was the rule,” Finn says, snatching the remote and pressing unmute. The room fills with Harrison Ford’s stone-on-stone scrape of a voice.

“I know, but you seem kinda tense.”

Finn doesn't know what to do. These rules kept order in the house. No shoes on the coffee table. Keys in the Official Key Bowl. Coats on the peg by the door. No food in the bedroom. Laundry on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Stuff like that made Finn feel in control. Not an overlord-y type of control, but rather he felt like he had a handle on things.

Imperial, the only home he had known, was an arms and ammunition manufacturing company that trained children from orphanages and grew them into mindless workers, using them to build weaponry. Finn wasn't in control of things while he was there. Hell, he wasn't even in control of himself while he was there. And it was scary.

But now, in this little apartment with Poe Dameron in Calliope, Massachusetts, far, far away from Imperial? He felt safe. He felt in control. It was incredible.  
Poe’s habit of breaking rules rubbed Finn the wrong way sometimes. Now was one of those times.

Without flying into a red-hot rage, however, Finn takes the bowl from Poe and sets on the couch behind him. Wordlessly, Finn straddles Poe, slinging his arms around Poe’s shoulders and ducking down to kiss him.

“Wh--?” Poe’s words are muffled and Finn kisses him deeper, harder. Almost angrily, he grinds against Poe, whose hands rush to press Finn closer. Finn angles his jaw as Poe parts his lips. Finn tastes salt from the chips Poe’s mouth. They break apart to gasp, Poe getting excited already, but then the crackle of electricity in Poe’s eyes flickers out, and he frowns.

“What was that?”

Finn tries to shrug nonchalantly. “The prelude to sex, I think,” he says. Poe purses his lips, cocking an eyebrow.

“Really? Or are you just trying to use my affections so we can have amazing hate-sex and we don't have to talk about what happened to you today?”

Finn pauses, then hides his head in his hands; cheeks burning from embarrassment.

“You see right through me, Dameron.”

Poe presses his palm to the back of Finn’s neck, pulling him closer. He kisses Finn’s forehead gently, and Finn buries his face in Poe’s shoulder. “Why, thank you. It's one of my specialties.” Finn breathes a shaky laugh against Poe’s collarbone at that.

“Now are you going to tell me what happened, or am I gonna have to draw it out of you?”

Finn sighs tiredly. It wasn't just the fact that he was uncomfortable breaking the rules he had made for himself. What had happened today was awful, and he didn't need Poe’s pity on top of everyone else’s.

“Finn?” Poe asks softly, switching the TV off and tilting Finn’s jaw up gently so their eyes met.

“I got...I got fired.”

Finn’s gaze tries to rest anywhere but Poe, who's gone slack-jawed. “What?” Poe asks, after a pause that seems to stretch forever.

“I got fired. They...fired me. For breach of conduct,” Finn admits, hanging his head in shame. He, of all people, got laid off for breaking the rules too many times. He has half a mind to blame Poe for this, but he knew that he made those choices all by himself.

Poe is quiet, then suddenly bursts into laughter. “How much of that code of conduct did you have any regard for?”

Finn cocks his head. “What?”

“I know you only signed up for the job because you love being an architect. I also know that you hate First Order Enterprises more than fizzed-out soda,” Poe explains, grabbing some chips from the bowl beside him and gesturing with one. He waves the chip around in the air as he talks, and when he finishes, he pushes it into his mouth, chewing loudly.  
Finn stares at Poe, who offers him the bowl. Finn’s hand reaches for some. With a sigh, he stares at them, slightly disappointed in the chips, but mostly disappointed in himself.  
The chips lie pathetically in his open palm; one of the two had snapped in half, and Finn had never related more to a piece of deep-fried potato in his whole life.

“How did you know?” he asks slowly as Poe shoves a fistful of chips into his mouth. Poe starts to reply, but all he does is spray chip crumbs all over himself.

He giggles, holds up a finger to say wait a sec, and chews furiously. Swallowing in a satisfied kind of way, Poe meets Finn’s gaze. “You're a really good architect, Finn. And we've been living together for like, what, two years now? I know what you look like when you do things you love, and working for First Order Enterprises doesn't make you happy,” he says simply, brushing his hair out of his eyes and chewing in-between words.

“Makes you do that thing where your face gets grumpy and your whole body just goes kind of...” Poe trails off, making a garbled sort of sigh and dropping his shoulders heavily, to supposedly imitate Finn.

Finn frowns for a second, then catches himself. He probably does look like that, since he sure feels like that on the inside. Tired and grouchy, and the only things keeping him going all day are the buildings he gets to design, and the fact a beautiful man--his man--is waiting for him when he gets home.

Poe is beautiful, in a very shameless kind of way. It’s as if he had no regard for other people and did these small subconscious things like sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth when he concentrated; dancing to the radio because he “felt like it”; feeding the strays that crowd around his feet--and people were just mesmerized by him. How could one person be such a distraction? It wasn't like Poe was doing it on purpose, either. It was just who he was.

Finn felt twinges of annoyance at how he used terms of endearment for everybody (“Hey, darlin’, let me get that for ya”; “After you, sunshine”; “Four blocks uptown, you can’t miss it, sugar”), how he dispensed grins and compliments like they were promotional pamphlets, and how even though he was wearing two-day old pyjamas, and hadn't shaved in weeks, and had chip crumbs down the front of his shirt and caught in his stubble--Finn found him beautiful.

Finn just got really angry sometimes by how in love he was with Poe Dameron; how whipped this man had gotten him, but he knew he didn't regret it. Not one bit.  
“If you knew all that, why were you surprised when I told you?” Finn asks, and Poe shrugs.

“Honestly? Yeah. I was surprised. I was wondering how we were going to pay rent or-or our bills if you didn’t work. I was worried, for a second.  
“Then I realized that your salary was the only thing keeping our heads above water. That there was so much pressure on you to ‘bring home the bacon’ or whatever. And that wasn’t fair. Not for you, not for me. You go out and work all day and when I don’t have classes I sit here and eat chips,” Poe explains, one hand scrubbing over his face tiredly.  
Finn swallows. Hard. He didn't mind being the breadwinner. But it bothered Poe, who had to stay home and worry, besides having school to keep up with in the first place. Finn didn't want Poe to worry. So he twisted his fingers in Poe’s hair, and he kissed Poe’s sandpaper jaw.

“What are you thinking of now?” he murmured between kisses, at a loss for anything else to say.

“That you could stay at home and I could go back to the garage, ask if I could take on double shifts or something.”

Finn’s heart clenches and melts into a sticky pile of oh inside his chest.

“You're...you'd do that?” Finn pauses his meticulous task of decorating Poe’s jaw with gentle kisses.

“Of course. I'll carry us for awhile. I’ll move classes around my shifts or something. I’ll make it work,” Poe smiles. Finn can see something tired in his eyes.

He knew that Poe loved Starfleet Auto, but he’d quit to study art about a year ago. He'd been using the money he'd been saving for years to put himself through school. He loved this change of pace. Finn could tell. And he loved school, maybe more than Starfleet.

And honestly, Finn thought staying at home sounded like a great idea. Poe would come back from work and Finn could kiss him senseless. Finn would've cooked. Made something nice. They could eat at the table. Talk. When dinner was over they could watch TV, or eat ice cream, or play some vinyls and dance, or talk some more. Maybe go for a walk in the moonlight. They could cuddle in bed and fall asleep in each others’ arms. Finn sighed. It sounded so simple, and yet so perfect.

It's not as though Finn didn't enjoy the routine they had settled into now.

Finn would come home, usually tired and irritable, and Poe would be waiting for him (unless he had a late class or a lecture that ran long, then Finn would have the apartment to himself for an hour or so). Finn would take a shower, calm down, and heat up leftovers or order in. Sometimes Poe would bring something back for them from the cafeteria at the uni, or the on-campus Panera Bread that had crazy discounts if you brought your student ID. Finn only cooked on weekends (if he was up for it) and Poe…

Let's just say Poe had skills that were better suited for other things.

They'd eat on the couch and watch TV, snatching conversation during commercials, and then, after cleaning up, they'd go to bed.

The routine made Finn sad. Like they'd lost that magic and electricity that they had had when they first moved in together. Finn was glad that they'd become comfortable around each other, but now he was worried that they'd gotten too comfortable, and they weren't even making an effort anymore. Maybe if Poe worked, things could be different. Finn wouldn't be exhausted. Poe wouldn't feel like he was navigating a minefield just to talk to Finn without setting him off.

But if going back to Starfleet meant that Poe would have to quit school, Finn wasn't going to let it happen, domestic fantasy be damned. He would always put Poe’s happiness before his own. Always. No doubt.

The problem was, Poe put Finn’s happiness before his own, too. And now? Someone was going to end up missing out, whatever they did.

“No way,” Finn says finally. Poe raises his eyebrows.

“We’re not even gonna discuss it?”

“Nuh-uh.

Finn rests his forehead against Poe’s. “I’m not gonna let you do this,” Finn exhales. Poe leans into Finn and allows his eyes to slide shut.

“Why not?” Poe asks quietly.

“You love this. Art. It’s what you’ve dreamed of doing for years. I’m not going to stop you from finding your dream just because I don’t have a job anymore.” Poe opens his mouth to protest, but Finn cuts him off.

“Would I love a break? Yes. Would I love to stay at home and make nice things all day for when you come home? Of course. Have I been thinking about this role-reversal arrangement ever since you suggested it? Yeah,” he pauses. 

“Am I willing to dispose of it all just so you can keep studying art? More than anything,” he finishes.

Poe closes his eyes. Lets everything sink in.

“I feel like you're not telling me something,” says Poe, eyes open and holding Finn’s gaze.

Finn sighs, and decides that there’s no point in trying to hide anything, so he tells him everything. How he's worried about the spark in their relationship, how their routine makes him sad sometimes, how he wondered about what they could be, how he wants Poe to be happy above it all--everything.

Poe has a thoughtful look on his face. He licks his lips. “I think you think me going back to work is a good thing, but you’re worried that you'll come off as selfish if you say it,” he concludes.

Finn nods slowly, guiltily. Poe cups Finn’s face in his hands and kisses him. He makes a wet smack noise as he pulls away. “You're not being selfish. I know you want what’s best for me, but we've been playing that way for a while. I let you play like that.

“You've already been so supportive of me going back to school. You've been paying the bills and buying the groceries and going to work, and I think I'm your house-spouse now. It’s your turn to take it slow, my love,” Poe says.

Finn stares, bewildered. “So you're going to quit art school and go back to the garage...for me?”

“You know I'd do anything for you. For us,” Poe replies simply.

“I could just find work somewhere else, y’know.”

“You could, but I wouldn't let you,” Poe says with a shrug, matter-of-factly. “Plus, I kind of like the dancing thing,” he adds with a small grin.

Finn feels his cheeks warm up. “You know my dancing skills are pretty unrefined,” he says in a weak protest.

“I'll teach ya. I'll teach you to Lindy Hop, and to swing dance, and to waltz--”

“It's not as though you're a champion at any of those, Poe. I've seen you dance.”

“Yeah well, that isn't the point. The point is that the lights’ll be down, and Lennon’ll be in the background, and I'll hold you and you'll hold me and we can just do the swaying thing. Like this--” Poe says and wraps his arms around Finn, burying his nose into the taller man’s shoulder and rocking their bodies slowly from side-to-side.

Everything seemed to slow to a halt around them. No traffic noises from the street below. No sounds of neighbours shuffling around in their apartments. It was just him and Poe. Slow-dancing, but not really. Finn leaned into Poe’s embrace and sighed deeply.

“House-spouse does have a nice ring to it,” he says finally, and Poe breaks away to flash him that grin.

“Maybe I’ll start calling you that more often,” he says, then adds: “You need the break, sunshine. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll take me back. I'll just call tonight and turn on the charm.”

Finn laughs as Poe waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“I love you. So much,” blurts Finn suddenly, speaking now from the overflow of his heart. There's so much of that feeling in there that he doesn't know what to do with it sometimes, but he also hopes that it'll never go away.

“I love you too, darlin’,” breathes Poe, and when their lips meet, it’s exciting-- the promise of a new and better future for them. Finn feels a tingle of sadness somewhere inside when he realizes that Poe probably isn't going to draw anymore.

It’s followed by a surge of renewed hope when he realizes what he’s going to do to change that. I’m going to make it work for him, too.

“Now onto more pressing matters,” Poe begins. “Give me my dinner, wife,” he caws in a Southern accent that does not suit him , maintaining a straight face. Finn rolls his eyes without conviction, smiling.

“Whatever you say, wife,” he retorts, sliding off Poe onto his feet and grabbing some takeout menus from the side table by his elbow. Poe grabs some chips and starts to eat them.

“We're lesbians now?”

“Honey, we were always lesbians.”

Poe snorts and then starts hacking up chip crumbs, spluttering.

Finn is amazed that this is the same man from three minutes ago.

**Author's Note:**

> Calliope, Massachusetts is a place that I've made up completely and totally on my own. I've just put all the pieces of my happy place into one big blanket and it's gonna be where the rest of the non-canon fics take place. You'll see more of it in coming stories, so I'm pretty excited for my two space sons to love each other (and themselves) here!!!
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!


End file.
